transfiguration

transfiguration

is a recognition
awaiting each of us..
a recognition
of who we are..

we remember our teachers
on our left and our right
our journeys of searching 
in past times..

searching the world for 
peace past understanding
that only comes with recognition
of who we truly are..

arriving now.. directly.. 
effortlessly.. as that which
has always been here
embracing our journey...

(Luke 9:  28-36)

Emptiness Dancing

Emptiness Dancing

Emptiness
is what we are
before daybreak..
before we know
 the fracturing
of daylight..

Emptiness
does not depart
with our rising and
work among fractures 
as our day unfolds..

Yet our attention
seems to remove
our busy-ness
from that which
is not busy..

A quiet moment
reveals all fragments 
have been dancing  
all day long with
what we are
 before daybreak...

Rupert Spira

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=uM8mc0CLm5g

Michael Jeffreys

https://michaeljeffreys.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/emptiness-dancing/

(the image above is from this website)

Insects

in progress

Very recent scientific studies have documented the precipitous decline in insect life across the globe. The entire class of Insecta is hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a 'catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems.'  See:

See this week's Eco-Justice Notes [http://www.eco-justice.org/E-190222.asp]

Intimacy

Intimacy

implies closeness

and many would say

 shortness of distance

appearance of merging..

so what if we 

eliminate the words

we use for closeness

however small the gap..

then to discover

seamlessness as

the fullness of our

experience:

knowing only a

many colored 

intimacy...

The Small "I"

in progress



RS:  There is no Small "I"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dTYv9WZrDA&t=81s

Indifference...(Byron Katie)

Indifference

the word has the connotation
of not caring..but there is more..
when "I" is known
there is a knowing that recognizes
the departure of limits
and a recognition that appearances
are fleeting and simply made
of that which is not limited..
appearances..then..are a matter of
indifference in our recognized

"I"...





from Byron Katie:

Respectful resonant words from Byron Katie
"When I'm working with someone, it may seem that I'm indifferent to the outcome. I'm not concerned about whether they do The Work, how deep their insight is, whether they're even listening, what they do with it, how far they go with it, whether they're in total resistance or have a major awakening and are forever grateful, whether they walk out and say that was totally useless.
What I do care about is what you care about. If you don't answer the questions, or your mind doesn't open to another depth, if your answers are very shallow and limited, I experience amazing peace at seeing clearly that for you that's depth, in fact it's all the depth that is required, no more, no less. If it appears to me that you've made no headway whatsoever, I see that what you hold onto is what is dear to you, and that's what I want.
When you're answering the questions and the bottom falls out, and all the old variety of help you ever considered as useful drops away from you and I see you fall into what is beautiful, I love that you love that. I love the polarity you just entered, the polarity of "I don't know," where everything is a surprise and new, original, fresh, and brilliant, like a child discovering life for the very first time.
This is not my preference unless it's your preference. I want what you want. Anything less than that is not being one with you, joining you, communing with you. I cannot take your old beliefs from you. If I were to want that, it would be ahead of your want, which is fine unless I hold the expectation that you should travel where I travel or that you even could or that's it's even time. Nothing ahead of its time, and I don't deal in time. To enter time and attempt to manipulate it is a futile and impossible expectation. I care about what you care about, no more, no less. And that is care. No pushing, no pulling, no tug of war, just holding, loving."

Enemies

Enemies

are intense beliefs
in the otherness of others..
the obvious separations
in life encounters..
loving of enemies
from this point of view
is well nigh impossible..
however~~
recognition of who I am
expands indefinitely the
identity we claimed as ours
and as others..allowing now
a settling in truth: love
as formation of all...


Luke 6 scripture
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A27-38&version=CEV

Impermanence

in progress


"I don’t know why we long so for permanence, why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs. With futility, we cling to the old wallet long after it has fallen apart. We visit and revisit the old neighborhood where we grew up, searching for the remembered grove of trees and the little fence. We clutch our old photographs. In our churches and synagogues and mosques, we pray to the everlasting and eternal. Yet, in every nook and cranny, nature screams at the top of her lungs that nothing lasts, that it is all passing away. All that we see around us, including our own bodies, is shifting and evaporating and one day will be gone. Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?"

- Alan Lightman (1948 - )
The Accidental Universe

The Direct Path

The Direct Path

seems to be the
recommended path
for our time..
our time of quantum pace
and of special urgency..

the luxury of time
born of the belief
in the primacy of time
is quickly dissolving
before our eyes..

right here..right now
is the imperative.. 
pushed by personal and
ecological tragedies we
search for directness..

enter the Direct Path
and a recognition
immediate..of the source
of spiritual and worldly
assumptions..

we are invited to access
right here and now 
our revealed identity 
lodged in and made of
illuminating peace...
~~CC


"The Direct Path requires no spiritual or religious
affiliation or background.  No preparatory practice
is required for the simple recognition that being
aware or awareness itself is the essential, irreducible,
indivisible element in all experience, to which we 
refer as "I" or "myself".  None has privileged access 
to it.  It is equally available to all people, in all places,
under all circumstances and in all situations.  All 
that is required is a deep interest in the nature of
reality, or an intuition that the peace, happiness or
love for which all people long cannot be satisfied 
by objective experience." 
~~ Rupert Spira, The Nature of Consciousness

Art dissolves

(Cezanne)

Art dissolves

when art looks to objects

a tedium is experienced

despite displays rendering

temporary pleasures..

the displays portray

exterior as exterior

polishing the world

 but retaining separation

as we wear again

dark cultural blinders..

let us become artists

and carry with us

our tools of expression

and yet more:  the lens

of Awareness as we

permit that Awareness

to absorb the tools

and the expression...

(Monet)

RS:  The Dissolving Power of Art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4juZiL0cYVg

RS:  Why Make Art?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFtZX8yFRs

RS:  Monet Poem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-waC4JVi-o

The Doorway

The Doorway

doorways
obstruct and darken
the freedom beaconing
from the light beyond..
the dimness discourages
and our search looks
elsewhere for the freedom
we seek..
noticing finally a patch
of light unnoticed before..
we approach and find
a startling invitation to
dissolve all thought
and pass through to the
freedom the doorway
conceals and reveals...



At the back of the mind is a doorway with the words ‘I am’ written above it. First, turn towards that doorway; then walk through it. Turning towards it is an activity of the mind; walking through it is the dissolution of the mind. That dissolution is the revelation of our essential nature of ever-present, unlimited Awareness, the abode of peace, happiness and love.
~~Rupert Spira

Erasure

Each of us
experiences the veil
                    the shadow
                    the separation
which hide our real nature..
until our experience
like a tree planted by water 
replaces our beliefs in  
seeming opposition.. 
erasing the division and
exposing  the peace of
our only Reality...
~~CC



Psalm 1 (CEV)

BOOK I
(Psalms 1-41)
The Way to Happiness
1 God blesses those people
    who refuse evil advice
    and won’t follow sinners
    or join in sneering at God.
2 Instead, the Law of the Lord
    makes them happy,
    and they think about it
    day and night.
3 They are like trees
    growing beside a stream,
    trees that produce
    fruit in season
    and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
    in everything they do.
4 That isn’t true of those
    who are evil,
    because they are like straw
    blown by the wind.
5 Sinners won’t have an excuse
    on the day of judgment,
    and they won’t have a place
    with the people of God.
6 The Lord protects everyone
    who follows him,
    but the wicked follow a road
    that leads to ruin.

Luke 6:17-26 (CEV)

Blessings and Troubles
20 Jesus looked at his disciples and said:
God will bless you people
who are poor.
    His kingdom belongs to you!
21 God will bless
    you hungry people.
You will have plenty
    to eat!
God will bless you people
who are crying.
    You will laugh!
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, 
because great is your reward in heaven. 
For that is how their ancestors treated 
the prophets.
24 But you rich people
    are in for trouble.
You have already had
    an easy life!
25 You well-fed people
    are in for trouble.
    You will go hungry!
You people
    who are laughing now
    are in for trouble.
You are going to cry
    and weep!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society



Tetzaveh is thus the Parshah in the Torah that embodies the “you” of Moses, his transcendent essence.
(From Chabad.org):  https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2810/jewish/The-You-of-Moses.htm )

Experience or Belief

in progress









In his book 'The Nature of Experience', Rupert Spira writes : "Experience itself must be the test of reality. If we do not take experience as the test of reality, belief will be the only alternative. Experience and belief, or ' the way of truth and the way of opinion', as Parmenides expressed it in the fifth century BCE are the only two possibilities".

I AM...Rupert Spira

I AM
I have no words to express myself,
but all words express only me.
I have no meaning,
but impart meaning to all that is perceived.
I am without beginning and end,
but all things begin and end in me.
I have no name,
but I am called by all names. 

I have no name, but I am called by all names.
I have no form, but all form integrates me.
I have no origin, but I am the origin of all things.
I am without division, but all divisions exist in me.
I exist by myself.

I am the longing in sadness
and the longed for in all longing.
I am the expecting
and the expected in all expectation.
I am the restlessness of the restless.
I am the peace of the peaceful.
I am happiness itself.

I cannot be contemplated,
but I am the object of all contemplation.
I am imperceivable,
yet you perceive only me.
I am full, but have nothing.
I am empty, but contain all.
I give away everything,
but I am never diminished.
I receive all, but never expand.
I am everyones lover, I shine.

I speak, but I am silent.
I move, but I am motionless.
I see, but cannot be seen.
I hear, but cannot be heard.
I taste, but cannot be tasted.
I smell, but cannot be smelled.
I touch, but cannot be touched.
I smile.

~ Rupert Spira
Excerpt from “Song of Myself”

Artist: Berislava Grace

What we long for is the space of Awareness in which all longing takes place. In fact, it is even closer than that. What we long for is itself taking the shape of our longing. 
~~Rupert Spira

The ultimate purpose of evolution is to draw attention to that which does not evolve.
~~Rupert Spira

Naming

Naming

it is an activity of the mind

as the mind searches for

an adequate word

as a name for some-thing..

 no word is

adequate to capture

the infinite nature of

any-thing when the

Nature of nature

is well Understood..

so the mind searches

and if healthy

recognizes its limitations..

surrendering..the name

comes in a quiet rush

in no time and place...

Subjectivity rising

Subjectivity rising

it is the inward path of now..

a time in evolution apparently

to lift oneself from weighty

objectivity..and to understand

the fallacies and illusions

which have brought our

object fixation to a pause..

the knowing experience of

Oneness in each of us

which arrives with a noticing

of the sun illuminating itself

or the wave discovering the

ocean..this new morning

recognition is a blissful

remembering of who we

ever have been...

Love is the Screen (Jeff Foster)

Love is the Screen

movie and screen
we use this metaphor
to immediately grasp
the love and grace
in which we all 
experience our
 lives and being..
and more:
we recognize
we are made of
the infinite substance
shining as the screen 
 here and now
to immediately grasp...

Jeff Foster:  Love is the Screen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1pX0Ylej9o

Deeper Waters

Deeper Waters

working hard 

fishing not catching..

tired and downcast..

yielding this morning to 

a journey inward..

 experiencing

 deeper waters:

our real identity 

beyond old beliefs 

at last recognized..

before recognition

we carried burdens: 

beliefs not experience

fishing not catching

searching not finding..

experiencing now

the peace and joy  

and the abundance 

of our own 

deeper waters..

the journey inward

now becomes outward

carrying new identity:

I am..abundance.. 

journeying forth now

finding deeper waters

in all the world...

Namaste..!

Luke 5: 1-11

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+5%3A1-11&version=NIV

“Not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.”
~Rumi

functioning

functioning

we smother this activity
with entangling thoughts
and names and labels..

a more favorable path
places these mind-things
in a temporary place..
so to discover that no-thing
in which all of these things
live and die..

then to realize that the
no-thing we recognize
as ourselves stands constant..
and the mind-things are ourselves
functioning..and departing
as we remain as no-thing... 



Jac O'Keefe...functioning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI-IdwT1Lak

Labels

in progress










"Labeling creates all kinds of complications to what would otherwise just "be." Words and mind create all of these stories and then wants to find meaning in order to understand because we relax when we understand. Without any of this mind/labeling/words, what is simply is, and no comment arises."
~Jac O'Keeffe

"Labeling creates events. To have any event happening, it’s already deep within the conceptual layers of consciousness because events require activation of concepts that create separation and experiencing."
~Jac O'Keeffe

Non-Duality preliminaries..

Non-Duality preliminaries..

How might Non-Duality be introduced

for those who have no previous exposure..?

It should be noted that the experience

is available for everyone at any time..

Non-Duality is related to Self-realization

ie. who or what we recognize ourselves to be..

and to the personal and cultural impediments

which cause us to overlook this vital discovery..

The concept of a "journey" can be helpful.  All

7 billion of us are on a life journey, something

all 7 billion would likely acknowledge..

Is your journey a conventional one, as most 

would claim..perhaps like a vacation trip

peering out  of a car window at the sights..or  

living with all of the apparent ups and downs..?

Or..is there curiosity over an intuition that there 

may be something more to one's journey..?

We can speak of two paths in relation to

Self-realization:  the Progressive path, and a 

more expeditious (or urgent..?) Direct path..

These paths are not mutually exclusive..

Most journeys involve some kind of

progressive path.  Included are activities 

relating to religion or spirituality, and numerous 

self-help programs which are engaged by many..

Others involve immersion in nature, attending 

retreats, watching YouTube videos, reading

and writing, and others..

I relate primarily to the Direct path..

A question:  Is the time in which

we are living ripe for the Direct path..?

Your interest in the above, and pondering 

the following questions may be informative:

Have you felt, occasionally, or often, that there is 

a "missing" element in your life..a need for

a way to mend nagging feelings of separation..?

Have you asked yourself questions, such as:  

Who am I..? or What is experience..? 

What of the apparent materialist orientation 

of the culture, and of our lives..? Troubling..?

How do you feel these questions impact your

current, perhaps lifelong, religious affiliation..?

All of these considerations might flag for you 

an interest in exploring the offerings of 

Non-Duality..